So Luxurious

From fuffernutter

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it’s very important that you do it. Gandhi said that, and I think most people would be well served to get back to that idea. We are very self-important. In fact, at this very moment I am assuming you want to hear what I have to say, how selfish of me. This feeling of self-importance has bled into the idea that we only deserve the best; that we’re worth it. We deserve and demand luxury in all areas of our lives.

We even demand luxury out of our toilet paper. That’s right, luxury out of a roll of toilet paper. Kick back and watch some television and you’ll see a lovely commercial for toilet paper that features a group of women saying that they feel like they really do deserve to be fresh and clean and the only way they can get this feeling is to use 3-ply, quilted, downy soft toilet paper made from 100% freshly cut trees.

Let’s get some perspective: 3-ply, by definition, means that there are three layers of thickness. That quilt your mother or grandmother made, the one that keeps you wrapped in warmth and love through the harsh winter months, is three ply – pretty top layer, batting, backing. The plywood that serves as the skeleton of your house could be 3-ply. Some jackets hikers wear to climb great snow covered mountains are three ply to prevent hypothermia. And now the great consumer gods have decided that we need to “treat” ourselves to tissues and toilet paper that have not one, not two, but three layers of thickness.

You use toilet paper for exactly three seconds. Five, if you’re slow. And then you literally flush it down a drain to be turned into a nasty wad to clog a pipe at some future date. This is like buying a cashmere sweater at top dollar, wearing it for one night and then throwing it into a nasty, stinky dumpster, never to be seen again. People would call you names if you did that. They would probably say you were a wasteful, spoiled, brat. So why are we allowing ourselves to get duped into thinking we need pillow-y soft TP?

While we’re on the subject, a major tissue company has decided we need a new fresh hand towel in the bathroom every time we wash our hands. They have made an advertisement that argues our “old fashioned” cloth hand towels get dirty and if you use them your hands will have dog spit, frog slime, dirt, grass, kid germs and probably some form of STD on them. This makes absolutely no sense. Aren’t you supposed to wash your hands before you use the hand towel? Maybe someone up at HQ needs to go back to elementary school for a little hand washing refresher course. The only thing that should be on your hand towel is water. Besides, you should probably throw that hand towel into the wash every once in a while.

Luxury is relative and our idea of luxury has gone completely overboard. Switching out your toilet paper for something more tree friendly is not going to lower your standard of living. Some brands are even making their eco friendly toilet paper more pillow-y soft… just in case the neighbors come by and you don’t want to be labeled as a pauper. There are a few tissue guides out on the internet. We usually buy CVS Earth Essentials because it’s most convenient. Trader Joe’s has more of the downy soft line of toilet paper.

We may think these changes are insignificant, but it’s very important that we make them.